I’ve not written here in over seven months. There’s a reason for that. Like many other conservative-minded, politically active citizens, I’ve been all but depressed by GOP primary voters choosing Donald J. Trump to serve as the Republican Party’s nominee for president. You can see my last post dated March 3rd bemoaning the betrayal of our conservative media.

Well, seven months have passed and I relate to those sentiments more today than ever.

Now, with less than a month to go before the presidential election, the GOP voters that nominated Trump suddenly find themselves defending a sexist pig-boy. A “man” with the mindset of a 13-year old middle school brat. They seem somehow surprised by this turn of events. Seriously? The only surprise should be that the only Bush who was able to take Trump out was Billy.

According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released today and conducted Saturday, October 8 and Sunday, October 9, Hillary Clinton jumped to a 14 point lead, 52% to 38%, over Trump. (Sample of 500 registered voters with +/- 4.6%.) This poll was concluded before last night’s 2nd Presidential Debate where Trump landed a few punches and some think he saved his campaign.

I’m doubtful. Even if there are no other bombshells Hillary and her cheer-leading press corps have planted between now and November 8, it seems unlikely American voters will hand the presidency to someone so uniquely unqualified and unfit to be president.

Not that any of those voters want to vote FOR Hillary. To the contrary. Many will likely just stay home on election day (endangering re-election of down-ballot Republican office holders) or skip over the presidential choice on their election day ballots. But barring the unforeseen, Mrs. Clinton will become the 45th President of the United States.

Every time I try to rationalize all this and think our country can survive another 4 years of liberal rule, The Supreme Court and the appointment of 1 to 4 new leftist Justices slaps me upside the head. Yes, we can survive 4 tumultuous years of the Clintons back in the White House (oh God…sorry, just threw-up a little bit there). But losing the Supreme Court to the Left for at least a generation is almost too much to bear. We cannot even fathom the damage to this country that will come at the hands of the Supreme Court in the coming years. The Constitution as we knew it has no chance of survival.

At this point, the best we can likely hope for is that the GOP maintain control of both the House and Senate – or at least the House. But the direction this is heading suggests Republicans up and down the ballot are in for a bloodbath on November 8.

Crying over spilled milk is unseemly I suppose. But still…this was so avoidable. You may recall that as of the 1st of this year, there were 16 other qualified, attractive, capable candidates running for the Republican presidential nomination. Any one of them would have been acceptable by contrast. ANY OF THEM. Even Jim Gilmore for God’s sake!

For the past 28 years, the undisputed King of Talk Radio and defacto head of the conservative movement, Rush Limbaugh, has repeatedly told us that the reason the GOP continued to lose presidential elections is because we always nominated “moderates”. G.H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney – each the very definition of moderate and each losers. Only when we nominate a true conservative like Ronald Reagan, Mr. Limbaugh proclaimed, can the party win in landslide fashion and successfully return the country to more closely resemble the Founding Fathers’ vision of what America was meant to be.

Then something happened on the golf courses of Palm Beach, FL, that altered Mr. Limbaugh’s devotion to this principle. Principle had to be set aside. There was a good friend who decided to run for president. That friend’s past political statements and actions would certainly never qualify as Conservative in nature. To the contrary. Everything from embracing the Clintons, Barack Obama, Senator Chuck Schumer, Planned Parenthood/abortion, single-payer health care, and the list goes on and on… This person was the antithesis of what Mr. Limbaugh would find as an acceptable Republican candidate for the presidency. I’m referring of course to Donald J. Trump.

And yet since Mr. Trump entered the GOP presidential contest on June 16, 2015, Mr. Limbaugh’s assumed criticism has been queerly absent. In fact, there’s been very little criticism to speak of and more of a muffled cheer-leading instead. With 20 million-plus daily listeners who have been educated on the principles of conservatism by possibly one of the here-to-fore most principled and gifted communicators of our time, one can only imagine how confusing the past 8 months have been for Mr. Limbaugh’s audience. It was reasonable to expect he would show favoritism to one of the true conservatives in the race such as Senators Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio. Instead, Mr. Limbaugh spent hours of airtime expressing only amused amazement at the wonders of Mr. Trump and his campaign.

Mr. Limbaugh is not the only (self-proclaimed) right of center media personality to betray the conservative movement. Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and Ann Coulter have also dropped their principled conservatism to embrace the most left-of-center candidate to come this close to winning the GOP nomination. And it’s become clear that Fox News has followed suit and is now firmly strapped in on the Trump Train as well.

At the risk of sounding the conspiracy theorist, what the hell is going on? How could we possibly be on the brink of nominating the one man who will truly end the Republican Party. Donald J. Trump’s less than subtle dog-whistle calls to racism (inability or unwillingness to denounce outright David Duke and the KKK jump to mind) alone immediately disqualifies. His recent statement to place limits on the 1st Amendment and freedom of speech so he can sue news outlets for printing opinions he dislikes is more than a bit disconcerting. And just this past Tuesday evening Mr. Trump stated that if Speaker of the House Paul Ryan didn’t see things his way, “he’s going to have to pay a big price.”

What in God’s name are we doing? Donald J. Trump is the most dangerous, ridiculous, clownish freak with dictatorial tendencies we’ve ever let get this close to the Presidency of the United States. Wake up and stop this madness before it’s too late. Because with absolute certainty, if our choices this fall are Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, a big portion of the GOP conservative base will either stay home or vote for the lesser of two evils which is (unbelievably!) Hillary Clinton.

In what appears to be a first for a serious presidential contender, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is going after five comedians who made fun of the former Secretary of State in standup skits at a popular Hollywood comedy club.

A video of the short performance, which is less than three minutes, is posted on the website of the renowned club, Laugh Factory, and the Clinton campaign has tried to censor it. Besides demanding that the video be taken down, the Clinton campaign has demanded the personal contact information of the performers that appear in the recording. This is no laughing matter for club owner Jamie Masada, a comedy guru who opened Laugh Factory more than three decades ago and has been instrumental in launching the careers of many famous comics. “They threatened me,” Masada told Judicial Watch. “I have received complains before but never a call like this, threatening to put me out of business if I don’t cut the video.”

Practically all of the country’s most acclaimed comedians have performed at the Laugh Factory and undoubtedly they have offended politicians and other well-known personalities with their standup routines. Tim Allen, Jay Leno, Roseanne Bar, Drew Carey, George Carlin, Jim Carrey, Martin Lawrence, Jerry Seinfeld and George Lopez are among the big names that have headlined at the Laugh Factory. The First Amendment right to free speech is a crucial component of the operation, though Masada drew the line a few years ago banning performers—including African Americans—from using the “n-word” in their acts.

The five short performances that Clinton wants eliminated include some profanity and portions could be considered crass, but some of the lines are funny and that’s what the Laugh Factory is all about. The video features the individual acts of five comedians, four men and a woman. The skits make fun of Clinton’s wardrobe, her age, sexual orientation, the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the former First Lady’s relationship with her famous husband. The Laugh Factory has appropriately titled it “Hillary vs. The First Amendment.”

Masada told Judicial Watch that, as soon as the video got posted on the Laugh Factory website, he received a phone call from a “prominent” person inside Clinton’s campaign. “He said the video was disgusting and asked who put me up to this,” Masada said. The Clinton staffer, who Masada did not want to identify, also demanded to know the names and phone numbers of the comedians that appear in the video. Masada refused and hung up. He insists that the comedy stage is a sanctuary for freedom of speech no matter who is offended. “Just last night we had (Emmy-award winner) Dana Carvey doing Donald Trump and it was hilarious,” Masada said.

Everyone has weighed in by now telling you exactly who you should believe won last night’s Republican Presidential Debate. I’ve been en route back from a business trip all day so I’ve not seen much pontificating. But I can guess the general tone.

A few unsolicited personal observations…

Jeb Bush did a fine job. Perhaps one of his best performances in all of the debates held to date. But was anyone moved to dump another candidate for Jeb? He sounded competent. Seemed to have higher energy which, according to Donald Trump, is a presidential prerequisite. But Bush was no more impressive than most of them. I cannot believe he’s moved the needle that much in his favor and would not expect to see a big bounce in polling for Jeb.

Trump was at his most serene. Boring actually. Perhaps trying to look more presidential. Whatever. So very, very over Trump.

Ben Carson did a fine job. But every time this lovable man opens his mouth I am instantly reminded how ill-equipped and unprepared he is to be president. Imagining Ben as commander-in-chief sends a shiver down my spine.

John Kasich was atrocious. Loser of the night. He knows the end is near for his candidacy and in a desperate attempt to get more air time and to seem even remotely relevant he kept interrupting. He came off as a petulant, precocious tween demanding attention. Truly annoying. Go back to Ohio, John. Your moment in the sun is over.

From my perspective, the night belonged to Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina. Both candidates are amazingly capable of communicating the conservative message and are incredibly persuasive. Both command the stage and present an image of competence, capability, and trust-ability. Both have a positive vision for the country. And it’s a vision an overwhelming majority of voters would likely embrace.

We truly are blessed with an amazingly deep and talented bench of candidates this season. Any would be far preferable to Hillary and her party of liars and Socialists.

But I remain convinced the invincible ticket is still Marco Rubio/Carly Fiorina. They would be unstoppable and could gather the support it will take once inaugurated from Congress and the public to move our country back from the brink and return it to greatness.

John Fund at National Review has a very interesting post concerning election results from yesterday’s Kentucky gubernatorial race.

For only the second time in 48 years, a Republican has won a governor’s race in Kentucky.

Further, the GOP nominee for governor, Matt Bevin, is a Tea-Party activist who has never held elective office and was considered by the Republican Establishment, Democrats, and the press as far too conservative to possibly win.

Oh, wait, this story only gets better. Bevin’s hand-picked Lt. Governor nominee (who also won handily) is a black Tea-Party activist. “Jenean Hampton is now the first African American elected to statewide office ever in [Kentucky’s] history.”

Hmmm. Two Tea-Party activists win statewide office? Democrats and the press (yes, I know, I’m repeating myself by referencing them separately) have been telling us for years the Tea-Party is dead. What is going on here??

…Hampton’s path certainly represents triumph over adversity. Born in Detroit, the 57-year-old Hampton and her three sisters were raised by a single mom who lacked a high school education and couldn’t afford a television or a car. But Hampton was determined to better herself. She graduated with a degree in industrial engineering and worked for five years in the automobile industry to pay off her college loans. She then joined the Air Force, retiring as a Captain. She earned an MBA from the University of Rochester, moved to Kentucky and became a plant manager in a corrugated packaging plant. Then she lost her job in 2012.

For those hoping to see conservatism triumph in elections a year from now, these past 2 weeks have been unpleasant. Instead of going after Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the GOP presidential candidates have only gone after each other. Then the press declared Hillary Clinton “not guilty” on all possible charges and now certain to win her party’s nomination and the White House handily. The jubilation over proven liar and likely law-breaker Hillary’s alleged triumph is enough to make one sick.

But the story coming out of Kentucky and conservative wins in elections in other parts of the country yesterday are very encouraging indeed. Democrats can lie to themselves all they like but the mood of the electorate is no more positive for them today than it was in the 2014 midterm elections.

Last night’s Republican Presidential Debate moderated by ghastly CNBC “personalities” was certainly entertaining at times. Marco Rubio masterfully cast aside creepy Jeb Bush’s desperate attacks. Rubio effectively dismissed Bush’s pronouncement that Rubio should resign his US Senate seat if he’s not going to be in Washington for every vote:

“Over the last few weeks, I’ve listened to Jeb as he has campaigned across the country and he said he was modeling his campaign after John McCain. You know how many votes John McCain [missed] when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you’re now modeling under? I don’t remember you ever complaining about John McCain’s vote record, and the only reason you’re complaining about mine is because somebody … has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you.”

Rubio deftly delivered a knock-out blow to Bush and managed to do so without coming off as mean or in any way disrespectful to his mentor.

After Donald Trump described super PACs as a “disaster” and a “scam,” Rubio came back with one of the best observations of the night: “The Democrats have the ultimate super PAC, it is called the mainstream media.”

Ted Cruz had a fine performance. The thing about Cruz I find most grating is his self-righteous, sanctimonious delivery. I’ve said before he’s better suited to be a very successful televangelist. But last night he managed to shed some of that and delivered excellent, well-deserved punches at the CNBC moderators.

“You look at the questions; Donald Trump, are you a comic book villain? Ben Carson, can you do math? John Kasich, can you insult those two people over here. Marco Rubio, will you resign? Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen? How about talking about the substantive issues people care about?” Cruz then wondered aloud if any of these moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary election. I laughed out loud after he delivered that punch.

From my perspective, perhaps the biggest loser of the night was Carly Fiorina. Not because she got tripped up or committed a gaff. No. She was polished, prepared, and professional as always.

The problem is today. I have yet to see any clips being played by media of Carly’s performance last night. As of 9:40 AM this morning, not one clip. How do you know who won the debate? Whose debate clips are being played over and over again? This morning it’s all Rubio, Cruz, and Chris Christie. Fiorina left in the dust.

Fiorina’s polling has already dropped down into the high single digits. Last night’s performance will not give her a bounce. I am willing to bet if Carly doesn’t knock it out of the park at the Fox Business Channel’s next GOP debate (Tuesday, November 10), Fiorina’s campaign may flicker out sooner than any of us want to see.